A US woman who shot and killed her husband and two adult children before taking her own life is thought to have committed the shocking crime as a result of being ostracised from the religion she was raised in.

A federal judge sentenced a former Arkansas judge Wednesday to five years in prison — a stiffer punishment than prosecutors recommended — after he admitted giving young male defendants lighter sentences in return for personal benefits that included sexual favours.

Every time I tell a mate I’m doing a story on cryptocurrency, they invariably ask me the same two questions: should they invest their own hard-earned money, and which cryptocurrency will get them a Lamborghini/yacht/island quickest?

In a 60 Minutes online exclusive, reporter Liz Hayes quizzed Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull on his relationship with the unpredictable Twitter aficionado and US president Donald Trump ahead of their meeting at the White House Friday.

The government introduced a package of six bills in the lower house to set up a public interest media advocate (PIMA) and give television networks a discount on their licence fees in exchange for more Australian content.

Communications Minister Stephen Conroy said the changes won't proceed unless the bills are passed by parliament by the end of next week.

Mr Williams this week flagged considering a legal challenge to the planned media reforms and derided the proposed advocate as a "Public Interest Soviet Tsar" to be used by the government to control media.

He continued his attack on Thursday in a statement pointing out flaws in the bill.

"We should not underestimate how outrageous these proposals are," he said in a statement.

The flaw include that key legal concepts remain undefined and the proposed regulator retains wide powers to undermine journalists' ability to do their job by withdrawing their protections under the Privacy Act, he said.

"It is hard to believe the Minister (Conroy) is demanding parliament has only a few days to consider over 200 pages of what is very far-reaching and deeply flawed legislation."

Other flaws were the lack of appeal rights and the fact that the law will be retrospective and therefore apply to commercial agreements concluded before the passage of any Bills, he said.

The PIMA will decide whether media mergers and acquisitions of national significance cause no substantial lessening of diversity of registered news voices but we have no definition of what diversity is, he said.

The rules even require the PIMA's approval for every internal media company restructure, just because new companies may be introduced.

"It will slow business to a standstill and is a seriously legislatively and regulatory retrograde step," he said.